


It's You

by hollo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bigender, Other, Trans, ends well, fun times, gender queer, trans coming out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-12
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-04 01:06:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4120723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hollo/pseuds/hollo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first time Oikawa saw her was at a bar near his college.<br/>He stopped counting their meetings after the third time.<br/>~<br/>She was brash and bold and reminded him of someone; more than that, she was irresistible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The first time Oikawa saw her was at a bar near his college. It was slightly westernized and slightly gaudy and exactly what Iwaizumi and him had needed to celebrate that day's won practice match AND the fact that both of them could finally drink legally. Oikawa had just gotten up from their table with the intent of dragging his nearly-sleeping and absolutely drunk best friend outside to catch a cab when he had accidentally bumped into someone walking past.

"Oh, sorry!" He'd apologized with a grin as he leaned back against the table to keep from wobbling right over. 

"It's okay," The girl had muttered. Her voice had been curiously low in a very nice way, and she hadn't really met his eyes, instead tilting her head slightly so her bangs fell obscuring her face a bit. She had been nearly as tall as him, which Oikawa didn't mind at all, to be honest. He'd been somewhat intrigued by her shyness but he had also been somewhat drunk and despite his curiosity his best friend was beginning to snore on the table top.

Oikawa gave the girl one last grin as she walked away, his eyes lingering on her a moment, before turning to the snoring guy at the table.

"Hey, Iwa-Chan~" he’d cooed as the black haired guy made a grunting noise and waved his hand as if swatting a fly. "Time to get home, come on."

 

The second time Oikawa saw her, he was not drunk. He was, however, waiting out front of the bar for a date he was sure was not going to show up. It wasn't much of a loss - the poor girl had practically keeled over when he'd asked her out, which he'd only done after Iwaizumi's insistence that he get over his most recent horrendous breakup. So, standing around outside the bar in the early evening hours, he finally almost properly met the girl.

She was heading into the bar, so it was hard to miss her. Her black hair was cut in a bob, with a shorter fringe of bangs at the front, and she was dressed in a black short sleeved shirt dusted with silver sparkles, a multi layered skirt of teal and turquoise fabric, and leggings of darker turquoise scattered with silver stars.  

She was flashy, and Oikawa found he didn't mind that. She also had well-toned arms and legs, a sports girl?, and he didn't mind that either. He flashed her a friendly smile as she walked up, hoping to catch her attention. It worked, she glanced at him for a second and he took the chance to speak.

"Hello," He said, hoping to catch her before she swept by him. She slowed, looking puzzled. "You probably don't remember me, but I'm the guy who bumped into you the other night."

"That's right," She said, her lips quirking into a smirk. She had bright turquoise lipstick on and silvery eyeshadow that glittered in the streetlights. 

"I can't remember if I apologized or not," Oikawa continued, because what other reason did he have for stopping her? Oh hey there, you're gorgeous? He wasn't a creep, after all. She chuckled at that, but she seemed to get shier the longer she stood there, dropping her head slightly so her bangs fell across her face again. She looked at him from that angle, almost looking up at him. 

"You know, you kind of look familiar..." Oikawa said. 

The girl bit her lip, looking wary. After a moment that coy smirk returned to her lips, however.

"Well, you did bump into me the other night," She said with a cheeky grin.

"Well, yeah..." Oikawa began, but before he could continue she had waved and continued on towards the bar. He watched her walk away, again, and considered following her. He didn't. He wasn't a creep after all.

 

 

Oikawa stopped counting after the third time he ran into her, not by the bar but at a cafe on a Saturday afternoon. She was sitting by herself at a table in a corner, staring fiercely out the window, a half full cup of coffee clasped between her hands. Her clothes were more subdued than before, a long sleeved dark blue sweater over a white top and a matching blue frilled skirt over lacy hose, and her makeup, though still impressive, was not quite as loud . 

Oikawa almost didn't approach her, she looked so fierce, and he didn't want to make her even more pissed off. But she looked more fiercely disappointed rather than fiercely mad, and after a silent argument with himself - what other chance will you get dumbass? - he headed over to her table, coffee in hand. 

"Excuse me," Oikawa said with a grin, hoping it would put her at ease. She turned to look at him, that fierce glare still on her face and he could SWEAR it reminded him of someone, he just couldn't remember who. "Would you mind if I joined you?"

Her glare softened, she obviously hadn't been expecting someone to come up to her, and she eyed him curiously a moment. 

"Sure, if you want," She said with a shrug. 

Oikawa sat down across from her cheerfully. 

"I should probably introduce myself finally," He said, "My name is Oikawa Tooru."  
For a moment she sat there, looking somewhat bemused. Then the crooked smirk came back.

"You can call me Kyoko." She said cheekily. 

So he did. They ended up chatting for close to two hours - mainly because Oikawa asked if she played any sports, and she said she played volleyball. That conversation alone took up most of their time - Oikawa had finally found someone as obsessed with volleyball as himself! 

When they did part, this time because Kyoko had a late evening class to make, they parted with each other's numbers on their phones and a sorta-maybe-kind of promise to meet again.

Oikawa didn't count how many meetings followed. They met at the cafe again a couple times, once at the park. Once he invited her to one of his matches, but she declined; she had class that day, he'd forgotten. They met at the bar too, Kyoko leaning closer to him as they stood at the counter waiting for their drinks, whispering "I'm not actually 20 yet." And laughing at his conflicted expression. 

"I'm 19, dumbass," She’d said with a smirk once they'd taken their drinks and headed to find a table. "Just don't tell anyone, this ID works awesome..."

Every time they met, however, Oikawa noticed that even if she was her usual, brash, rowdy self to begin with, she'd eventually start becoming a bit distant, as if she was holding back. He couldn't understand why; as far as he could tell, they got along fantastically. To be honest, he found her exciting. She had no trouble calling him an idiot to his face, she always seemed to be muttering curses beneath her breath whenever something irked her. When the gachapon machine got stuck she shook it violently until it finally gave up their baubles. She was quite an interesting character.

But then those moments came, where she almost seemed to shy away from him, suddenly becoming distant and lackluster. He couldn't understand why, and the more he tried to cheer her up when she got like that the worse it seemed to be.

 

 

"If I'm too much, if I make you feel uncomfortable, just tell me, okay?" Oikawa said one day as they sat in their cafe. Kyoko gave him an odd look.

"What're you talking about?" She asked around a bite of almond pastry.

"Sometimes you seem a bit, ah," Oikawa thought a second, "overwhelmed? And you get distant."

Kyoko eyed him curiously, her eyes narrowing.

"You talk a lot about yourself, you know?" Kyoko said finally, brushing crumbs off her lips with her thumb. 

Oikawa frowned uneasily; did he really? 

"I used to think it was because you had a huge ego, you know," Kyoko continued, "But it’s more like, what else are you going to talk about? I mean right now you've got school and volleyball so yeah it sort of revolves around you right?"

"That makes me sound a bit pitiful," Oikawa said, unable to muster a grin after such a scathing review. Kyoko tapped her coffee mug.

"It's not... I mean, I'm the same, right?" Kyoko said with a shrug. "What do I talk about?"

Oikawa thought a moment, but found she was right. Volleyball, school, and that was it.

"We're totally like, into volleyball." Kyoko said, "So that's what we talk about a lot. But you, you're... so focused on what you could be doing better. Like, in a negative way."

"It's not as if being self-critical is an entirely bad thing," Oikawa said, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms.

"But you're super critical," Kyoko said, then continued quickly when she saw Oikawa starting to respond, "Like now, you think it's something you're doing making me uncomfortable or whatever."

"What else could it be?" Oikawa said plainly.

Kyoko didn't respond, just looked at him with a slightly disgruntled expression for a while, twisting a stand of hair around one finger and biting her lip. It didn't exactly help in making Oikawa feel any better.

"You're really perceptive," Kyoko said with a sigh, "But you're also a total idiot. How does that work?"

"What?" Oikawa asked, because after that conversation he wasn't sure how to take it.

Kyoko laughed.

"Come on, walk me to the station, I got a class to get to," She said with a grin, getting up.

"Okay," Oikawa said, grinning as well, but the things she'd said stayed with him.

 

 

Especially after summer vacation started. Classes took a break, and even the volley ball clubs gave them a full week off. Oikawa had hoped that he'd be able to spend more time Kyoko, but she came up with excuses to avoid meeting up with him more often than not. He did get her to go to a street festival with him one night. She even seemed more cheerful than she had been in previous weeks. 

Not a day later, however and she was turning him down again. It continued time after time, until finally, frustrated and hurt, he tapped out an angry message stating "if u don't want to see me anymore u should just tell me". He wasn't even in the mood to include any emoticons.

There was full silence for days. He managed to busy himself with his volleyball training - or over-training, per Iwaizumi, keeping his mind off the lack of texts.

"What is it this time?" His weary and annoyed best friend would grumble as he dragged him off the court at eleven at night for the fourth time in a week.

What could Oikawa say? He hadn't even told Iwaizumi about Kyoko, keeping her like a little awesome secret of his own. Well, he hadn't told him outright but Iwaizumi had hinted he knew Oikawa was going out with A girl. Oikawa wondered if he should tell him, finally, but what would be the point? He'd already messed up astronomically - it was eight days since he'd sent that last text, and Kyoko had never responded. He probably should've written something to her, apologized, but he was honestly worried about what she'd say back. 

Iwaizumi finally cornered Oikawa in the kitchen of their shared apartment one day, giving him The Look.

"What's up, Iwa-chan?" Oikawa asked with a grin, and attempted to slipped past his friend.

Iwaizumi continued giving him The Look, now adding a raised eyebrow. Oikawa stopped attempting to get past him, but continued grinning like he was oblivious to what Iwaizumi was trying to do.

"So what happened?" Iwaizumi asked with a sigh, crossing his arms and continued to give Oikawa The Look.

"With what?" Oikawa responded. He weighed the outcomes of attempting to sneak past again in his head.

"With the girl." Iwaizumi said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"What?"

"You're sort of moody, you're practicing too much again, you're constantly staring at your phone like you're waiting for it to jump up and bite you..."

"And that means I have a girl problem?" Oikawa laughed. 

"Okay, a guy then?"

"This has nothing to do with a relationship type of thing..." Oikawa said, squeezing past Iwaizumi and beginning to back out of the kitchen. Still laughing.

"Oikawa..." Iwaizumi had traded The Look for one of annoyance.

"Shhhhh..." Oikawa shushed, and spinning round he hurried off to his room before Iwaizumi got it into his head to tackle him or something.

Once alone, behind the safety of his bedroom door, he felt the loneliness fall on him again. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he walked over and sat on his bed. There were a few messages, but they were mostly from his team. One was a video from Watari but he didn't feel like watching it.

For a long time he stared at the phone screen, then steeling his resolve he started typing a message to Kyoko.

To: Kyoko-chan  
  - I'm sorry about what I wrote  
  - I'm really sorry  
  - extremely

  He stared at the phone screen, willing a response to appear. Maybe she was busy? Maybe she didn't notice? Maybe she actually hated him and wouldn't respond out of spite?

Half an hour later his phone buzzed. By that time he'd ventured out of his room again, warily because Iwaizumi tended to strike when least expected, and was watching some cooking show that he was only paying attention to because Iwaizumi kept making snide comments about the cooking techniques used.

From: Kyoko-chan  
  - dumbass  
  - whyd u hav to txt me?

To: Kyoko-chan   
  - I missed u

Oikawa risked a glance at Iwaizumi. His best friend had the sense to at least try to look like he hadn't been attempting to read Oikawa's phone screen from three feet away. Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him and scrunched down on the couch so he could better shield his screen.

He waited impatiently for a response, tapping fingers on his knee. Should he have written he missed her? Was that okay?

From: Kyoko-chan  
\- ur an idiot still  
\- I see

Oikawa frowned, what should he respond?

To: Kyoko-chan  
\- but u knew that already :D

The response came quick that time –

From: Kyoko-chan  
\- u don’t even sound mad

To:Kyoko-chan  
\- Im furious  
\- >:C

He was so giddy inside, he could barely contain himself. Grinning to himself, he waited for the next text to come over.

Iwaizumi laughed suddenly, and Oikawa shot him a dirty look.

“You missed it,” Iwaizumi said, pointedly looking away while he motioned at the tv.

Oikawa wasn’t fooled; he kicked him hard in the side.

“Ow, what is wrong with you?” Iwaizumi said, shoving Oikawa’s leg away roughly, but he was still laughing.

Oikawa kicked him again, nearly shoving him off the couch, but Iwaizumi retaliated by yanking him closer by the leg and grabbing Oikawa’s phone out of his hands.

“Go ahead,” Iwaizumi said, face stony, holding the phone high above his head. “Kick me again.”

“Iwa-chan, you’re so cruel!” Oikawa glared at him. His glare didn't have much punch, especially considering he was laying on his back on the couch during it.

The phone buzzed in Iwaizumi's hand. Oikawa jerked upright, flailing at it, while Iwaizumi continued waving it above his head. 

"Give...It...back!" Oikawa finally shoved Iwaizumi hard enough his friend ended up falling backwards over the couch arm. The phone fell out of Iwaizumi's hand and slid across the floor, and Oikawa launched himself after it with all reactive force his volleyball senses could muster.

From: Kyoko-chan  
  - kinda wish u didnt  
  - now I feel like I hav to explain

  Oikawa frowned, bit his lip as he tapped a response, still laying on the floor.

To: Kyoko-chan   
  - u don't have to if u dont want to

  From: Kyoko-chan  
  - think I owe it to u  
  - after everything  
  - I woulda told u sooner but I didnt know what youd do

What an odd thing to say, Oikawa thought. He'd figured there must have been some misunderstanding, or maybe Kyoko just didn't feel for him what he felt for her, but the last text from her seemed as if something more serious was happening.

What if she was the princess of some far away kingdom and she couldn't be with him because she was bethrothed to some prince?! Oikawa had to know!

To: Kyoko-chan  
  - u can tell me anything  
  - I won't judge or be mad ^ω^

  He waited for a response for a while, but Kyoko didn't respond. Oikawa got up off the floor with a sigh finally, pocketing the phone and resolving to wait it out. Apparently whatever she wanted to tell him was a Big Deal, with capital letters.

"What's wrong?" Iwaizumi asked. Oikawa waved his concern away and made his way to the kitchen. In the kitchen he stood staring at the refrigerator door for a few minutes before making his way back to the front room.

"Iwa-chan~ do we still have the FIVB championship finals recorded?" He asked cheerfully as he sat back down on the couch.

"Yeah, let me switch to the DVR." Iwaizumi flipped over and set the finals match to play.

"That quick in the second half of the first set is killer," Oikawa said, watching the screen as eagerly as he could muster. Iwaizumi wasn't convinced at all, but he knew Oikawa well enough to not pry. Not when he asked to watch volleyball.

 

It was two in the morning when Oikawa's phone woke him. It buzzed for a solid twenty seconds, confusing him enough that he thought it was dying on him. 

Turning it on, still bleary eyed from sleep, he found that Kyoko had finally responded. At two in the morning. Eagerly, he opened her text message and started reading.

From: Kyoko-chan  
  - so I don't know how to start this really  
  - I mean I know I owe u some explanation cuz   
  - well ur a better person than I thot u were  
  - and a lot of fun to be around  
  - and then u started liking me I noticed it u know   
  - It woulda been allright if it was just like that but  
  - I guess I startd liking u too I don't know ewhn even  
  - but at the festival we wer just hanging out and it was like "wow this is a date for real         like this awesome" I didn't even think about anything else it was just great  
  - I guess that's what it's like when u like someone? Like the shitty stuff kind of takes a backseeat or something?  
  - I guess at this point ur like   
  - okay but what's the problem then?  
  - so I gotta tell u even though I kinda don't want to cuz it not fair to u  
  - cuz I'm not exactly a girl or more like I'm a girl when I'm a girl but then I'm a guy too. It's not making sense but gimme a few more sentences  
  - see like I was born and my parents said I was a guy and my doctors said I was a guy and that's cool but therere times I'm not  
  - like when ima girl I'm a girl 100% I know I am but people say "ur a guy" and I know they're lying?  
  - I kno its real weird to hear but I'm not lying I don't know how else to say it  
  - I'm a guy but I'm also a girl and people just are weird about it I don't know who I can tell  
  - I try not to get too attach to ppl when I'm a girl cuz I'm mostly a guy and it's just not worth it  
  - the hassle and having ppl find out I mean a girl got killed last year cuz her boyfriend found out she was born a guy and she was like the real deal she had operations and everything  
  - and I'm not even that I just do my best to look like a girl and act like one I guess it work  
  - there almost no one who knows about me except for a couple friends and they think it's a fetish or kink thing they don't get it  
  - like the world doesn't get it not everything is some sex kink right  
  - I didn wanna tell u I didn't want u to hate me or whatever  
  - but this is like the biggest thing why I had to stop cuz I was meeting up with uas a girl even when it wasn't a girl day for me cuz I just wanted to be around u and I can't have that u know that's not safe  
  - im sorry   
  - I swear I'm not a fake or pretending or whatever  
  - this is me   
  - imsorry 

  Oikawa stared at the phone for a solid ten minutes, trying to understand what he'd just read.

Kyoko was a guy?

No, that didn't sound right. He scrolled through the message again - she reiterated a bunch of times that she was a girl, but she was a guy too. A person born as a guy, but who was a girl, sometimes.

It didn't make sense.

Oikawa put his phone back on his desk and slumped back into bed. Kyoko wasn't a girl- girl. Kyoko was someone else when she wasn't being Kyoko. It was like finding out you were meeting with a spy or something, a total stranger - playing you for attention?

His dreams were uneasy. In the morning he sat on his phone through breakfast, searching topics like "my girlfriend is a boy" and "guys as girls". None of the results were all that encouraging, and almost all of them had to do with some sort of kinky gender play.

He re-read Kyoko's text on the way to school, but something stood out for him, more so now that he'd stumbled through those weird sites in the morning. Not a kink, not a fetish, that's what Kyoko had said. What else was there?

Oikawa wasn't even mad about the guy thing, he'd found himself attracted to guys occasionally. He'd never gone out with one but he'd never written off the possibility. It was just the thought of someone leading a double life... It didn't sit right with him.

It was in the middle of volleyball practice, as he was setting up tosses for the spikers to practice their spiking, that something else came back to him. Kyoko, or guy-Kyoko, had met up with him on a day when she-he?-wasn't a girl. They'd met up, and Oikawa was sure he couldn't tell the difference. 

What if Kyoko wasn't playing at being two different people? What if Oikawa had it all wrong? He'd prided himself on being able to read people, being intuitive, perceptive, and it had annoyed him he hadn't even somewhat picked up the truth behind Kyoko, but... but what if there wasn't a 'truth'? Kyoko was a girl, and when she wasn't, she was a boy. But whether boy or girl she was still herself, wasn't she? Wasn't it just another facet of her, or his, being?

The revelation was so sudden and surprising Oikawa ended up flubbing his toss and hitting the poor spiker right in the face.

"Sorry, Mako-chan!" Oikawa called out, "My bad!"

"Get your head back to practice, Trashykawa!" Iwaizumi called from where he waited in line with the others for their spiking practice.

"Always so mean to me, Iwa-chan. It's like you don't love me anymore..."

 

Back at home that night, he changed directions on his web searches. This time he put in "girl who was born a boy" and found sites talking about 'transgender' people. His next search led him to a web forum for transgender people, and the links on there led him to pages describing transgender terms, and four hours later he'd practically drowned in a wealth of knowledge about gender identities that he'd never knew existed and his head had begun to hurt from staring at the screen so long.

Tran boys, trans girls, people who were bigender, or genderfluid, or trigender or agender... His head was swimming by the time he dragged himself to bed. One thing was certain, his revelation during practice was confirmed - none of these people were doing it for attention, or for sex, or for some weird thrills. It was all part of who they were, part of their existence, and they just wanted to be able to be themselves, without worrying that someone would treat them horribly or act like they were crazy.

Or, as in the case of the poor souls he’d read about and what Kyoko had mentioned, without worrying whether someone was going to hurt or straight up kill them for who they were.

No wonder, he thought as sleep finally came to him, no wonder she was so worried...

 

The next morning, he resolved to get in contact with Kyoko again. She must've been worried sick since he hadn't responded - what if she'd even been avoiding the places she used to go to avoid running into him? Not letting her know he wasn't mad at her wasn't fair to her.

He resolved, but his resolve wavered. What would he say? How should he word his response? It took him longer than he would’ve liked to finally start trying to put his words together, and once again, it was a late evening when he finally got the chance to sit down and write the response. He'd been formulating it in his head for a couple of days, doing his best to make sure he didn't say the wrong thing. In all honesty, he was hoping for another chance with her. He really felt like they had connected, on some level, and now that she was no longer around he felt lonely and listless. Oh, he'd survived breakups before, terrible ones even, but none had left him feeling so empty.

He thought they might have a chance together. He was certainly willing to work at it. 

To: Kyoko-chan  
  - Hi Kyoko! ^ω^  
  - I hope u weren't too worried when I didn't respond right away °O°  
  - I wanted to thank you for being oppen with me it must've been hard for you  
  - I'll be honest it was a shock and I didn't know what to say  
  - I wanted to understand but I didn't know how to do it I guess bc I never felt like that?  
  - so I had no reference?  
  - I don't want u think ing I'm mad or disgusted or anything lke that bc I'm not  
  - It took a while for me to get it  
  - I looked things up  
  - It was the first time I herd the term transgender  
  - There's so many genders j didn't realize ©_©  
  - I don't want to pretend I know what exactly ur feeling or sayingbut  
  - I understand a bit better now bt obv cant learn everything in a few days  
  - but I hope we can still be friends  
  - I mean I sstill like you too that hasn't changed and when I think abt it liking u when ur a guy too that doesn't bother me  
  - but I don't want to force u into anything  
  - or like force feelings onto u  
  - if u dont want them so  
  - but I hope we can still stay friends at least  
  - maybe one day we can meet up on one of ur guy days   
  - but only if u want to and if ur comfortable with it  
  - anyways this is getting real long >_<   
  - I hope ur nights good and your day too °ω°  
  - good night! 

It wasn't exactly the words he'd planned, and it _definitely_ had none of the eloquence that it had in his head, but it was truthful, at least. With a sigh, Oikawa put his phone down and did his best to ignore it and focus on homework. It was a useless effort but he tried.

He had to keep trying to not play attention to the fact that Kyoko didn't respond for almost the rest of the summer break. He was almost looking forward to classes starting again so that he had something other than volleyball and ridiculous internet sites to keep his attention away from his phone.

It didn’t help that he had _friends_ who liked to text him all the time – each time his phone vibrated he had to resist the urge to swipe it on asap, right away, check the sender… at some point he’d begun carrying it in his hand, like a safety blanket, at all times that he could (which was almost always outside of volleyball practice).

Of course, it was when he wasn’t holding his phone that the most important text of his life that he had been waiting for ages for came over, and it wasn’t until volleyball practice was over, and he’d showered, and taken his sweet time getting dressed and ready to go home because he was wondering if he couldn’t do a better job setting up a quick set if he could only get Mako-chan to get used to hitting the ball higher but slightly farther away from the net, when he finally tapped his phone on to check the time.

“Hey Oikawa, you coming?” Iwaizumi asked, just as he turned his phone on and the name _Kyoko-chan_ flashed across the screen.

“Ngh!” He reacted, because his words didn’t want to form.

“What?” Iwaizumi gave him one of his patented ‘wtf am I dealing with now’ looks.

“Nothing! I just need to check one more thing, I’ll be out in a bit!” Oikawa said with a bright grin.

“If I have to drag you out of here at midnight again…”

“You won’t, I promise.” Oikawa said cheerfully.

Iwaizumi continued giving him that disbelieving look.

“Iwa-chan, don’t you trust me anymore?” Oikawa said with a frown. “What is this, happening between us? This distance?”

“Right, I’m gonna be outside, weirdo,” Iwaizumi said, rolling his eyes.

Oikawa waited until he left, then dropped to floor by his locker and pulled up Kyoko’s text.

From: Kyoko-chan

  - so i think I’ll regret this cuz it has to be unreal  
  - cuz I don’t think a real prson is supposed to be as nice as u r being  
  - i don’t believe it  
  - but I really fucking miss u  
  - andi really wanna fucking hope theres something thats good in life  
  - maybe I shouldn do this but maybe im just an idiot  
  - besides I mean if shit goes south I can ttly take u so  
  - if u don’t hate me yet for takin so long and if u still want to  
  - the café nd the table at noon tmrw??

And half an hour later

            From: Kyoko-chan

  - jst pls if u see me and u get freaked out pls just leve maybe?  
  - please

Oikawa’s hands shook as he scrolled back up to re-read the message, and re-read it again. He didn’t know what to do with the jittery emotions that were inside him all of a sudden. He was excited, incredibly excited – Kyoko wanted to meet up with him, as a guy. That had to be it. That had to be why Kyoko would be worried. Oikawa could hardly contain the excitement – that Kyoko would trust him that much! He’d have to learn his name, he’d have to teach himself to call him properly by his name, just like how he called Kyoko by her name.

At the same time, he was terrified. What if it didn’t work out? What if they didn’t click like this? What if things went horribly wrong and they’d have a huge blow up and he’d never see Kyoko, girl or guy, ever again? That prospect was frightening.

Still, he wouldn’t let Kyoko down. That was too much trust to just throw away – he couldn’t leave someone hanging. Letting people down weighed too much on his mind.

 

So he fidgeted through the morning the next day, almost wanting to head to the café early and scout the area, inspect the people heading inside, trying to see if he could recognize the guy he was going to meet. That was a bad thought, and it was an unfair thought, because it bordered on the thought that if he didn’t like what he saw he could leave so easily and never show up. Ever.

But following that horrible thought was the memory of Kyoko’s last message, and the tremor he could practically see in the words. “if shit goes south I can totally take you” Kyoko said when the message was happy but the last “please” was what stuck with him. Oikawa had never stopped reading up on trans issues, on gender issues, on anything that he could find, and the horror stories that dotted the pages he visited had made an impression on him. That last “please”, that last attempt to avoid something horrible… Oikawa would go, and even if things didn’t go well, he wouldn’t make a fuss, and he sure as hell wouldn’t make a scene, and even if they weren’t meant to be even _friends_ he’d make damn sure Kyoko, girl and guy, knew they were awesome and that they deserved to be happy. He damn well would.

So Oikawa arrived at the café at exactly noon, according to his phone. He hoped the world would forgive him if he was a little wary walking inside, despite doing his best to look cool and unaffected because after years of being the face of his school’s sports excellence it was the one look he had perfected enough to use without even trying. The café was bustling, people hopping into line and out of it, because it was summer and it was noon and everyone wanted a cute drink and something to snack on during a summer day, and he was thankful for the screen of people that gave him the chance to glance at the table in the back by the far window before he started heading over to it.

He was even more glad for the screen of people waiting in line once his brain began processing who was sitting at the table. For a moment he thought it had to be an odd sort of coincidence, a ridiculously odd sort of coincidence of the sort that only happened in stories and manga and those movies that he could never stomach watching all the way through but did anyways because Iwaizumi would get pissed if he didn’t.

It had to be a gigantic, ridiculous coincidence of monumental proportions of ridiculousness – except that things began clicking in his brain, slowly at first, all the times he thought Kyoko looked familiar, like he’d seen that look on someone’s face before, he recognized that glare, he knew that brashness… Kyoko, a year younger than him. Kyoko, rabidly obsessed with volleyball. Kyoko, shying away any time he got too close, any time they spent time longer than just an hour or two together…

Kyoko... Kyoko… Kyo… _Kyo…_

Oikawa didn’t realize one could make their mind up so quickly. Maybe his mind was made up long ago and he never realized it? It didn’t matter, because when his heart beat a little quicker and his palms tingled it was with that excitement again, not wariness. It was excitement and maybe hope and maybe an eagerness to find out what tomorrow held and he wanted to grab hold of that feeling and keep it forever. The way to do it, he knew, was to walk up to that table.

So he did, with a grin that was flustered but came easily because it was a good type of flustered. And he approached the guy who sat looking ferociously bored, staring out the window over a cup that was still full of coffee. And he slid into his usual chair easily and put his elbows on the table and propped his chin on his folded hands.

“Kyouken-chan, imagine meeting you here,” He said cheerfully, almost bubbly, and grinned because here was a possibility he’d never imagined and his memory kept going back to “I guess I started liking you too I don’t even know when” and “I really fucking miss you”.

Kyoutani turned to face him almost too quickly, startled, and for a long moment only watched him, eyes widened just slightly. Oikawa knew that wariness, for two years he hadn’t been able to get a millimeter past it. Was he doing this right? Was he coming on too strong?

 “What’re you grinning about?” Kyoutani said finally, gruffly. He settled back deeper in his chair, still watching Oikawa like he was expecting the older guy to jump over the table and throttle him.

“I don’t know,” Oikawa said, and sighed. “It’s you. I guess I’m happy.”

“Stupid thing to be happy about,” Kyoutani said, although he seemed to relax. Just a tiny bit.

“I guess,” Oikawa said with a laugh, relaxing his pose and lowering his hands to the table. “I was worried I’d have trouble remembering your name, I wanted to be sure I got it right, but I guess I don’t have to worry about that.”

“You really read up on…” Kyoutani stopped himself, shot a covert look around the café. They were in a back corner, far from the door, but Oikawa couldn’t blame him for being vigilant.

“I’m still reading up on it,” Oikawa said. Kyoutani gave him an odd look, and Oikawa shrugged. “You like someone, you try to put the effort into understanding them, right?”

Kyoutani bit his lip, eyes narrowing, like he was trying to piece something together in his mind. Or take something apart.

“It’s me, you know.” He said after a moment, “Me.”

“Yeah?” Oikawa said, and then added. “I guess it’s odd, but… odder things have happened?”

“Aren’t you pissed?” Kyoutani asked. His hands were running along the edge of the table, incessantly, to the corner and back, but his eyes were still on Oikawa, as if he was still expecting him to shift gears, turn on him.

“I told you I wasn’t,” Oikawa said, puzzled. “But you mean, now, knowing it’s you?”

Kyoutani was biting his lip again. If he kept it up he would get it bloody. Oikawa frowned.

“I’m not. I’m really not.” He said, with as much conviction as he could muster. Kyoutani still looked wary, still looked uncertain.

“You sounded hopeful in the text,” Oikawa added after a moment. Kyoutani’s hands paused on the edge of the table, he looked away towards the window.

“Yeah, dunno, guess I’m an idiot sometimes too…” He said, with a shrug, settling back against the chair again, his arms rising to cross over his chest. He almost seemed to be receding, Oikawa thought, pulling away.

“You’re not an idiot about this,” Oikawa said firmly. Kyoutani looked back at him, almost not-wary. Almost.

Oikawa grinned again, why couldn’t he put him at ease? He leaned over the table, so he could talk quieter while still being heard among the chatter of the other patrons.

“I accept you, _all_ of you. That’s not a lie, and it’s not going to change.” Oikawa said, “And if anything… if anything, at least, can’t we stay friends? We never really got the chance during high school… and I’d hate to lose you now…”

What Oikawa wanted to do was climb over the table and wrap the blond-haired guy in a bear hug. What he did was wait patiently for Kyoutani to process his words and form a response, because it seemed to be taking a while.

“”If anything”?” Kyoutani repeated slowly, as if he was deciphering the meaning still, “What… you mean you still… even though you know…”

The prospect of what he was saying, what Oikawa had been implying, seemed too much for Kyoutani; he looked back out the window, ran a hand through his short-cropped hair. If he was looking for words they weren’t coming to him.

The urge to wrap him in a bear hug only grew, and Oikawa thought he’d never seen anyone look more lost than Kyoutani right then. As if the world had suddenly shifted and he was seeing it all for the first time again.

“Hey, let’s start slow,” The words bubbled out of Oikawa’s mouth before he could stop them. Kyoutani looked back at him, no longer wary, but slightly puzzled. Oikawa settled back in his chair a little, took a breath, and continued with a grin, “So, I’m going to go get a coffee. Then I’m going to come back here. Then you’ll tell me how your last practice went. Then I’ll tell you how _my_ last practice went. And… and then, we’ll see. We’ll see what then.”

“Okay,” Kyoutani said. It sounded like a reflex but it also sounded genuine. Oikawa grinned; he was probably grinning too much but Kyoutani wasn’t complaining.

“Okay,” Oikawa repeated back. “I’ll be right back.”

“Yeah,” Kyoutani said, and for the first time he managed a bit of a crooked grin.

Oikawa couldn’t keep his spirits from soaring; hopping eagerly to his feet he headed for the counter and hoped the line would move quickly – he couldn’t wait to get back.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think I'd write more, but here is some more! I figured I might as well ride out the cuteness of this story while I had it fresh in my mind.  
> There may be more snippets to follow. I hope you enjoy!  
> Feel free to ask questions, and feel free to bug me at itsdetachable.tumblr.com

What struck Oikawa first after spending time with Kyoutani was that the guy was just like he remembered him back in high school. Rough, brash, prone to speaking his mind when he wanted to and ignoring the hell out of people when he didn’t. Just like high school as well, he had the tendency to not listen to Oikawa when the older guy tried to tell him to calm down, or wait for him, or not eat all the appetizers before Oikawa got back from the bathroom… To be honest, it wasn’t much of a big deal, as Oikawa realized that despite the annoying amount of time Kyoutani spent being a jerk, he wasn’t as jerkish as he seemed on the outside. He remembered Oikawa liked milk bread and would get him some at random, showing up with an armful of packages of the store bought kind with some vague excuse of it ‘being on sale’.

It was one reason why while Oikawa hadn't been expecting any grand leaps or bounds in the weeks that had followed their meeting in the café, he was hopeful. He was just happy he was actually getting to spend time with Kyouken-chan. For the most part, Kyoutani was still wary around Oikawa when he was male, as if he wasn't sure how to act.  So when he invited Oikawa over to his apartment one day, Oikawa was understandably excited. It felt like a big step, after all. The only time Kyoutani seemed to relax after all was when he wasn't male, but female. Dressed in frilly layered skirts and cute shirts and leggings Kyoko had no issue with being brashly flirty with Oikawa when they were out, grabbing his arm to pull him along when she saw something that interested her, making jokes and chatting easily when they were out.

Oikawa could appreciate that there was a bit of a socially created divide between them when they went out as two boys versus when they went out as a girl and a boy, but he thought Kyoutani could be somewhat more easy going when they were hanging out. It was almost a little painful, sometimes. _It'll take time_ , he would remind himself when, once again, Kyoutani would stiffen up as Oikawa got a step closer than usual when they walked down the street together.

Now, however, they'd met up after their practices, and after almost an hour of wandering around with no really idea of what they wanted to do or where they wanted to go, Kyoutani had turned to Oikawa and asked, 

"You wanna come over? My place is nearby."

As if Oikawa even had to say “Sure.” The thought that Kyoutani was inviting him over, to his apartment, was a surprise. Oikawa had figured it might take a while longer before Kyouken-chan would feel comfortable letting him come over. Personal space seemed to be a big deal, after all, and Oikawa felt like their relationship had just taken a huge step forward. Whatever relationship it was that they had.

They had to walk a few blocks but Kyoutani hadn’t lied, it really was close, Oikawa was surprised to see. Kyoutani's apartment was on the third floor of a newer building just a few minutes walk from the station he used to get to school. A 1DK, it was tinier than Oikawa was used to. He himself was sharing a 2 bedroom apartment that Iwaizumi's parents were footing for them, that was in an older building nearly next door to their college. Oikawa still wasn't sure how they managed to get it, but there were some questions better left unasked.

"Sorry it's kind of a mess," Kyoutani said, not sounding sorry at all despite 'mess' being a bit of an understatement. His futon was still out, covered with a mound of clothes and some books, and between the tv on its stand, the futon, and random boxes scattered across the floor there was barely any room to walk.

"You want some help with this?" Oikawa asked, gesturing towards the floor.

Kyoutani gave the room a look, and then walked over to the futon. With a single movement he somehow managed to lift one end smoothly off the floor so that everything on top slid off against the wall on the far side, then laid it back down on the floor. It was all accomplished with practiced ease; Oikawa wondered if that came from cleaning his room nightly in the same way.

"Nah, it's fine," Kyoutani responded finally, toeing the futon closer to the wall, "you want anything to drink or something?"

"Ramune peach soda," Oikawa said without hesitation. Kyoutani gave him an odd look, but walked over to the fridge, returning shortly with two bottles of the drink.

"You actually have it?" Oikawa laughed as they sat on the futon.

"Yeah, why not?" Kyoutani asked.

"If you had it I'd think you have lychee or something odd like that..." Oikawa said, setting to work at opening the bottle. There was a little marble that needed to be pushed into the bottle with a little plunger, and for all his skills at coordination he still managed to douse himself in fizzing soda more often than not.

"Lychee's good too," Kyoutani grumbled as he popped the marble out of the bottle neck, setting the soda fizzing inside.

"I didn't say it wasn't," Oikawa grinned as he managed to push the marble down into the neck of the bottle without spilling soda on himself.

"Wanna watch something?" Kyoutani asked, leaning over to grope for the tv remote among the slightly smaller pile of thing near his side of the futon.

"Do you think anything good is on?"

"Who knows." 

Kyoutani flipped through a few channels before finally settling on one at random.

"Oh," Oikawa said as he recognized the images on the screen.

"What?" Kyoutani asked, eyeing him.

"Nothing," Oikawa said with a grin, but then added, "This is _Uzumaki_ , isn't it?"

"I think so..." Kyoutani grabbed the remote again. "I can change it-"

"No its fine," Oikawa said, forcing himself to settle back. So the movie wasn't exactly his favorite, he could take it. 

“Seriously," Kyoutani wiggled the remote. "Want me to change the channel?"

"No," Oikawa said firmly, then took a sip of his soda. "Maybe."

Kyoutani snickered, but flipped through a couple more channels before settling on an innocuous looking sitcom.

"Can’t handle horror?" He asked, shifting over a bit so he was closer to Oikawa.

"I'm fine with horror," Oikawa said with a snort, "it's that movie though... The spirals... It's just stupid."

"Nah," Kyoutani said, "We all got that one movie that rubs us the wrong way, you know?"

"I guess," Oikawa said, then grinned. He'd just realized that Kyoutani had shifted closer. It was a nice realization. He looked around the room as they fell into a companionable silence. Kyouken-chan had a lot of stuff, he realized. Oikawa had ended up sitting on the farther edge of the futon, near the pile of stuff that Kyoutani had slid off the futon, and something caught his eye. He reached over and tugged at a leather strap, and ended up pulling out what looked like a chain of silver flowers and leaves with leather straps at each end. He eyed it curiously, then turned to look at Kyoutani. Kyoutani was looking at the tv, so Oikawa had to jingle it to get his attention. For a moment after turning to him Kyoutani looked puzzled, then he saw the object in Oikawa's hand.

"That? That's a... headband thing." He said with a shrug. 

"Ah," Oikawa said, looking at it again. After a moment he reached up and tied it onto his head, the silver flowers at the front. He turned to Kyoutani. "Like this?"

Kyoutani eyed him critically for a moment, then lifted his hands and reached out. Carefully he rearranged the headband and fixed Oikawa's hair a bit. For a long moment his hands lingered just near Oikawa's face, but then he dropped them quickly.

"There," Kyoutani said. Oikawa grinned brightly, and after a moment Kyoutani grinned back. "Maybe you should keep it, it looks good on you."

"Does it?" Oikawa asked, a hand reaching up to touch the headband almost reflexively. He wasn't used to such outright compliments from Kyoutani. 

"Yeah," Kyoutani confirmed again, turning his attention to the tv and leaning back against the wall again. Oikawa settled back again, emotions buzzing slightly because there he was, in Kyoutani's apartment, hanging out and wearing a flowery headband and getting compliments. It was almost too much. He grinned to himself, shifting slightly closer to Kyoutani because really the only thing that would make the evening better was if he could somehow steal a cuddle but that was probably too much to hope for at the moment.  Still, now they were just barely touching at their sides and maybe that'd be good enough for now.

Then Kyoutani sighed, or maybe grumbled, or grumble sighed, and leaned heavily onto Oikawa's shoulder. For a moment it seemed almost unreal, but then Oikawa remembered that technically they were sort of maybe kind of going out, after all, and they were nowhere public where some idiotic person might be horrible to them, so maybe Kyoutani was just feeling safer in a familiar environment - and then Oikawa realized he was, once again, overthinking things. 

He'd wanted to cuddle, hadn't he? Here was his chance, no thinking required.   
Happily, he shifted so he could get an arm around Kyoutani. For a little while the other guy still seemed a little uncomfortable, Oikawa could feel it in his body language, in the stiff way he held himself, but after a few moments that stiffness left, and Kyoutani rearranged himself so he was actually doing the cuddle thing instead of just leaning onto Oikawa's shoulder.

Oikawa almost wanted to say something, almost - something stupid like "such a good dog" or something - but he wagered that would've ruined the moment. And, well, he'd have plenty of moments to ruin later. He'd enjoy this one while he could.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know I always say I really hope you enjoy, but I really really do hope you enjoy.  
> If you feel like leaving a comment I'd love it!  
> Or if you feel like bugging me off site, you can find me at itsdetachable.tumblr.com

Oikawa had been surprised to learn just how the whole bigender thing functioned - he'd just assumed it was a daily thing, as if going to sleep was a hard reset and the brain woke up in the morning with a definitive idea of who they were going to be for the day. Spending time with Kyouken-chan ended up teaching him something different.   
Sometimes it did function the way he'd imagined - and did so often enough that he was able to talk Kyouken-chan into a system they could use to communicate about it each morning.

"I still don't get why you think it's so important," Kyoutani had said when Oikawa had brought it up the first time.

"I just don't want to accidentally misgender you or call you the wrong name," Oikawa said. He’d think that Kyoutani would be the one who’d be on board with the idea, not him.

"It doesn't matter to me," Kyoutani had sounded utterly unaffected by the whole idea. To be honest Oikawa was a little miffed with his nonchalance. He was just trying to make his life easier.

"If you don't want to that's fine," He said, with a grin as well; it had just been a suggestion, after all. And besides, he wasn’t the one who should be deciding these things. Even if he thought it was a great idea, it was ultimately Kyoutani’s decision, and he wasn’t going to force it on him.

"It's cool, not like it's a big deal to do," Kyoutani had shrugged. 

The next morning he'd sent Oikawa a simple text, a sun emoticon. The sun appeared for a few days, until one morning instead of a Sun the text had a moon. Sun for male, moon for female. It was a simple code, but hopefully innocuous enough that if anyone looked at their phones or texts they wouldn't be able to get it. It made Oikawa happy to think that he hopefully helped somehow. He could only hope that Kyouken-chan felt good about it as well.

Oikawa had gotten used to the morning updates after a weekm and figured that was how things would be, until he was out with Kyoko one day. They'd just sat down at their favorite table in the cafe, coffees in hand, when her expression changed, just slightly.

"Something wrong?" Oikawa had asked. She looked uncomfortable all of a sudden, as if she’d just realized the seat was wet or something like that.

"No," Kyoko had responded, but seeing the imploring look on Oikawa's face and possibly realizing he wouldn't leave well enough alone, she sighed and added in a grumble, "it just got sunny all of a sudden..."

It had been sunny all day, but Oikawa wasn't dense. 

"You okay?" He asked, hoping it wasn't too stupid of a question. What else could he say?

"I'm fine," Kyoutani had responded. Oikawa was careful to call him Kyoko for the rest of the time they were out, especially at the cafe, but he could tell it irked him a bit.

 

 

It was a couple of weeks later, during one of the rare times where both their teams had a day free from practice, that Oikawa had met up with Kyoutani after classes. They planned to grab something to eat and head out to watch a movie. Kyoutani had been waiting for Jurassic World to come out for ages and he was practically dragging Oikawa along as soon as they met up at the station. They ate at a ramen shop nearby the theater, just outside the station. Oikawa had honestly noticed something was off by the time they finished eating, something about the way Kyoutani kept tugging at his shirt, but kept from mentioning it until they were back out on the street again.

"Was there an eclipse?" He asked quietly, so that he wouldn't be heard by anyone else. Kyoutani gave him a sour look, but nodded wordlessly.

Oikawa thought a moment, "There’s a movie theater not far from your place, isn't there?"

"Yeah?" Kyoko answered, "What about it?"

"We can go to that one, I’m sure the movie's playing there." Oikawa grinned at her.

"Why the fuck would we do that when we're right by this one?" Kyoko asked, motioning ahead of them. The theater was only two blocks away. 

"Well, you can change first then." Oikawa said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Oh," Kyoko looked ahead towards the theater, then back at Oikawa. "I mean, it'd take time, you know... And it's not like it bothers me _that_ much..."

Her hands fidgeted with her shirt as she looked back the other way to where the station was.

"If you're okay with it, I guess," Kyoko said, looking back at Oikawa. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the hand, tugging her back towards the station.

"Come on!"

It took a while for Kyoko to get ready, but Oikawa didn't mind all that much. Neither of them had classes in the morning the next day, and it was only eight o clock. He busied himself attempting to tidy the apartment while Kyoko took a quick shower. It was a sisyphean task; Kyouken-chan had way too much stuff to fit into the apartment. Oikawa wondered how much of it was actually necessary. 

"Hey, do you see that green glittery skirt out there?" Kyoko called from the bathroom. Oikawa was utterly intrigued by how she changed her voice. He wanted to ask how she'd learned to do it but he didn't think it was respectful to just come out and ask it.

"I think so," Oikawa called back, leaning over a large box to grasp at a piece of fabric peeking out from behind the tv stand. Pulling it out, he discovered it was indeed a green glittery skirt. Of course, Kyoko had three of them, so he could only hope he had the right one.

Getting to his feet, he walked over to the bathroom and knocked on it. Covering his eyes with one hand, he held the skirt out with the other and called out, "you can open the door, I'm not looking."

"Dumbass," Kyoko said as she opened the door, tugging the skirt out if his hands.

Oikawa didn't lower his hand from his eyes until the door closed - modesty was a virtue and all that. With a grin he headed back and plopped down on his belly on the futon and started searching movie times at the nearby theater on his phone. They had plenty of showings to choose from, so there was little worry that they'd miss the movie. It WAS pretty popular, however, so hopefully they wouldn't be out of luck buying tickets at the door.

The bathroom door opened again, and Oikawa looked over to see Kyoko come out nearly dressed. Black sequined top, this one with long sleeves, her frilly green sparkly multilayered skirt, and in her hands she had a pair of green long socks that matched her skirt. Sitting down next to Oikawa, she pulled them on.

"Lucky I don't have super hairy thighs, I guess," She said as she pulled the socks up over her knees; with the skirt they'd cover most of her legs, but not when she was sitting.

"What, you wouldn't shave?" Oikawa teased 

"Fuck no," Kyoko snorted. 

"What are those little clear things at the top?" Oikawa asked.

"These? They keep the socks from sagging, they're like little gel strips or whatever. stitched on," Kyoko said, showing him the thin strip that ran round the tool edge of the socks. She finished fixing them and looked around the room. Getting to her feet, she went to the closet and yanked it open, revealing even more boxes and piles of stuff. Reaching behind one of the boxes, she pulled out a head form that held her black wig.

"Just a little longer," she muttered, _almost_ apologetically, as she headed to the bathroom again. 

"Hey," Oikawa said, sitting up, "Would you mind if I saw how you put it on?"

Kyoko looked at him like he was an idiot, like she was about to ask why, but then shrugged.

"No, come on," She said, and Oikawa hopped to his feet and followed her.

The bathroom was as tiny as the rest of the place, so Oikawa stood in the doorway so he wouldn't crowd Kyoko. 

"This is... A head... Thing," Kyoko said, showing him what looked a lot like a nylon stocking.

"Ah, I see we're using technical language," Oikawa said seriously. Kyoko slapped him on the arm with a grin.

"You gotta put it on first, it kinda helps the wig stay on sort of better." She said, and showed him how the nylon had to be stretched, and then pulled onto her head. It looked really stupid at first, enough for Oikawa to start chuckling, which earned him another, much harder, slap from Kyoko.

After she fixed the stocking so it only lay around the border of her hairline, Kyoko picked up the wig. Shaking it out a little, she placed it on top of her head and shifted it until she was satisfied with how it sat.

"How’s it look?" Kyoko asked, turning to Oikawa.

"Good, not off center, and really cute," he answered with a grin.

"Awesome," She said as she turned back to the mirror. She wasn't done yet, however. There was a box of bobby pins on her sink, and she picked a few up and began deftly sticking them in at intervals around the hairline of the wig.

"Helps keep it in place," She said for Oikawa's sake. "It'd be easier if I had longer hair, but it's good enough."

She finished quickly, then ran her fingers through her hair a bit.

"Just a few more minutes," She muttered, crouching down to open the cabinet under the sink.

"No problem, I'm going to check the times," Oikawa said, and headed back to plop onto the futon again, this time on his back. Having already checked the show times, he didn't really have anything to do so he went through his most recent messages. Another parkour video from Watari, an angry text from Iwaizumi in response to the twenty five lolcat pictures Oikawa had sent him, and a few random group texts from the other volleyball team members.

As he was about to out the phone away, a message notification popped up. He opened up his email and looked over the newest message; it was from the coach, reminding them about the spring tournament and letting them know a practice match was being set up for the next week. Oikawa wondered what team they would be playing against; hopefully not one they'd faced in the summer tournament. Their school hadn't made it out of the quarter finals, mainly because their second wing spiker was on the bench with tendonitis and their libero had suffered a severe concusson during training a few days earlier. It wasn't the team’s fault, really, but it pissed Oikawa off all the same. He was going to show everyone their team’s abilities come spring...

"You ready?" Kyoko asked, breaking Oikawa out of thoughts of victory and adulations. 

"Yeah," Oikawa said, pocketing his phone and getting up. Kyoko came out of the bathroom looking fresh and, Oikawa thought, gorgeous. Not that he didn't find Kyoutani hot, because he did, though it was in a slightly different way. Kyoutani didn't wear shimmery peacock green eyeshadow and matching lipstick, after all. There was a whole different type of aesthetic there.

"Lets go," Kyoko said with her crooked smirk in place, and they headed out.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> when did this become something I'm writing? I mean, I thought this was going to end as a one shot for chapter one, but I kept getting ideas. I still have more ideas!!  
> P.S. If you have an idea for a situation, you should tell me! And maybe I'll write it! I'm having way too much fun with this. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> P.P.S If you want to bug me offsite, find me at itsdetachable.tumblr.com

Oikawa glared at the digits on his phone as he sat at an outdoor cafe table. Seven thirty three and Kyoutani still hadn't shown up. They had planned to meet at seven, or near seven, in front of the cafe (as it was conveniently located halfway between their schools). Seven thirty FOUR now, and Kyoutani STILL wasn't there.   
Oikawa groaned in frustration. Opening up his messages he typed out a text.

To: Kyo-chan              
                 - where are u?  
                 - ???

He put the phone down and leaned back against the seat back. It was a cool day but the sun was glaring and it made his eyes hurt. Which made his head hurt. Which made him even more aggravated. He tapped his fingers on the table fearlessly for a moment, and then picked up the phone again. No answer.

To: Kyo-chan  
                 - where are uuu??  
                 - where are uuu7uuuu   
                 - wheeerte aarrreeeeuuuuuu  
                 - shwidbsabjrdkfnabs

With a dramatic groan he dropped his head to the table. Was Kyoutani ever going to show? The mysteries of the universe were vast indeed.

"Would you just chill?"

Oikawa raised his head so fast he almost gave himself whiplash, and glared at Kyoutani as the other guy dropped into the seat across from him.

"You weren't here!" Oikawa said, motioning at the chair Kyoutani was sitting in.

"Yeah, I know, sorry," Kyoutani said with a huff. "Train was delayed, AND my phone decided to download some stupid updates and restart."

Oikawa leaned back in his chair with a noise of discontent. Kyoutani didn't sound sorry at all. 

"You all right?" Kyoutani asked, eyeing him uneasily.

"I'm fine," Oikawa snapped back, but followed that up with an attempt at a grin. Kyoutani didn't look convinced. Oikawa continued with the grin, however, as he stood, "Come on, let's walk around or something."

"Sure," Kyoutani said, still eyeing Oikawa like he was afraid he would explode. Oikawa sighed and tried to relax, reminding himself Kyoutani was NOT the source of his frustration, and that he'd come out to feel better, after all, and not blow up at him.

"Look, they have that dog breed gachapon here now," Oikawa said with an effort to sound cheerful. He HAD wanted one of the newer breeds after all. He was a sucker for adorable ball shaped animals, and the tri color Shiba Inu figurine they'd just released was absolutely the most adorable one so far. 

After ten tries and no Shiba Inu however, he was ready to break the machine.

"Augh! I give up!" He exclaimed, glaring at the machine. He gave it a kick before stalking off, leaving Kyoutani holding the balls they'd already gotten. After a long moment, and a long block, he realized he'd left Kyoutani behind and turned around to stalk back, but the blond had already caught up to him.

"Here," He said, handing Oikawa an unopened ball. Oikawa frowned, opening it half heartedly - only to find the figurine he wanted sitting inside.

"What?" Oikawa looked at Kyoutani for an answer.

"I grabbed a couple more while you were having your huffy fit," Kyoutani said simply.

"Thanks," Oikawa said, turning the figurine over in his hand. Somehow he didn't feel all that happy about it. He looked at Kyoutani only to find him watching him expectantly. 

"Come on, let's just walk around," Oikawa said with a sigh. Kyoutani shrugged, and fell into step next to him. His jacket pockets bulged; he'd apparently stuffed all the previous balls in them, although it looked like quite a bit more than ten. 

They walked down a few blocks in uneasy silence, until suddenly Kyoutani grabbed Oikawa's arm and pulled him roughly into an alley. His grip was stronger than Oikawa expected, and despite his initial attempt to resist he soon found himself standing next to a dumpster and a few discarded boxes. Flustered and more than a bit pissed off he rounded on Kyoutani as soon as the other guy let go of his arm.

"What the hell?" He snapped, glaring at Kyoutani. 

Kyoutani, for his part, looked not one bit disturbed by Oikawa's anger. He eyed him with a slightly puzzled and thoroughly exasperated expression.

"Whats wrong?" He asked, sternly. 

"Nothing," Oikawa responded, "Why do you think something's wrong?"

"People were jumping outta your way on the street," Kyoutani said with a vague wave back towards the road. When Oikawa gave him a blank look, he continued, "You're one-eighty-something, idiot. When you get that look on your face the little people get intimidated."

"What.... What look on my face?" Oikawa asked.

"The look that says "I'm going to destroy the world today"," Kyoutani answered with an exasperated huff.

"I never get that look on my face," Oikawa answered back, offended. Really now.

"You don't get it often but you do," Kyoutani crossed his arms and gave Oikawa an even look. "Last time I saw it was when you were warming up for the match with Karasuno two years ago."

"Ngh," Oikawa waved his hands at Kyoutani. Did he have to remind him of that? "Shut up."

"So what is it?" Kyoutani didn't seem to want to let the topic drop. Oikawa eyed his exits; either way, he probably wouldn't get far. Kyoutani's reflexes were too good, and Oikawa hated to say it but hand to hand he was probably stronger than Oikawa as well.

Oikawa sighed.

"So we're probably having a practice match Friday," He muttered without much enthusiasm.

"Oh, yeah, that totally sucks," Kyoutani said in a sarcastic monotone. Oikawa stuck his tongue out at him.

"That’s not it..." Oikawa dragged out the pause, unwilling to voice his frustrations out loud.

Kyoutani just raised an eyebrow, continuing to watch him. Oikawa continued to not speak.

"You know if you need a reason to talk, I'm pretty persuasive," Kyoutani said ominously, rolling up the sleeves of his jacket. 

"Ha, you wouldn't," Oikawa said, but Kyoutani just gave him a hard look. "You wouldn't... But I'll tell you anyway, because I want to! Not because I'm scared."

"Right."

"So this practice match..." Oikawa began slowly, "We don't even know who it's against yet, our coach doesn't want to say before it's finalized, but apparently-" and here he gushed his words out "-hewantsthefirstyearsettertoplaythefirstset."

Kyoutani stared at him blankly. Oikawa let out a breath and grinned brightly.

"Wow, you're right that really helped!" He said with a forced laugh, stepping away from the wall, "Now let's get back to having fun-"

"Where do you think you're going?" Kyoutani asked. Oikawa gave him a nervous grin.

"Seriously, that's what's got you pissed off?" Kyoutani whacked Oikawa in the shoulder, hard. "I thought you were gonna fail out of school or some shit like that. Why are you even worrying about it?"

Oikawa didn't answer, because he wasn't sure how to put his feelings into words, so he just sighed and shrugged.

"You’re still the official setter, right?" Kyoutani said, and Oikawa nodded hesitantly. "So what the fuck are you worrying about? So the first year is gonna play the first set. Big whoop. How else is he gonna learn to play with the team? He's not gonna get the chance to do it in an official match, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Oikawa said, dejected. "I know it's stupid to get pissed but I can't help it."

"Do you always get like this about stuff like that?" Kyoutani asked, this time managing to sound a little concerned.

"Ugh, maybe?" Oikawa made a face, stepping away from the wall. "Let’s not talk about it, okay? Come on, maybe we can find something to do... Or eat... Or something..."

"Hey," Kyoutani said, grabbing his arm again. Oikawa turned to face him reluctantly. "You can talk to me about shit like this, you know that?"

Kyoutani looked entirely sincere, and Oikawa couldn't help but grin. 

"Yeah, thanks," he said. He wanted to hug him too, it would've been so nice, but he held back. He was happy enough with knowing Kyoutani was there, supportive, if a bit rough about it.

"So next time don't force me to threaten you, just tell me," Kyoutani said grumpily as the headed back towards the street.

"Would you've hit me? Like for real?" Oikawa asked as they stepped back onto the sidewalk.

"Good question," Kyoutani said, looking like he was considering it a moment. "I guess we'll find out the next time you're an idiot."

Oikawa frowned and gave Kyoutani a hard shove, but the blond only laughed.

"Ramen," Kyoutani said after they'd gone half a block.

"What?"

"You owe me ramen for that."

"Fine."


End file.
